The Hogan family cooperated fully with investigators, providing access to personal information during their darkest hours. Clearwater Police praised their transparency, which ultimately led to swift closure and confirmation of natural causes.
But the occupational therapist's on-scene claim that a surgeon severed Hogan's phrenic nerve during surgery — plus Brooke's public doubts about his leukemia diagnosis — suggest not everyone in that house believed he died of natural causes. The family even filed to extend the statute of limitations for their malpractice investigation.
Hulk Hogan (Terry Gene Bollea) died July 24, 2025, at age 71 after collapsing at his Florida estate. An July 2025 autopsy confirmed he died of acute myocardial infarction and had a history of atrial fibrillation and leukemia CLL. The 72-page Clearwater Police report closed the investigation June 6, 2026.
Natural causes or not, this case will linger — Brooke's questions went unanswered, and someone at that house thought something was wrong enough to call out surgical malpractice before the body was cold.
The wrestling world can finally move on. Hulk Hogan's death investigation is officially closed. Clearwater Police Department confirmed Friday that the WWE legend died of "an attended natural death," ruling no criminal wrongdoing in his passing nearly a year after he collapsed at his Florida estate.
The 72-page final report, obtained by the Daily Mail and first reported by Page Six, concluded there was "no evidence to indicate the death of Terry Bollea was anything other than natural." But before we crown this case closed, let's remember what led us here — because the path from July 24, 2025, to today wasn't exactly a straight line. Investigators reviewed statements, medical records, surveillance footage from within Hogan's residence, and conducted a visual inspection of his body.
They interviewed witnesses, including his occupational therapist, who happened to be present when the Hulkster stopped breathing. And that therapist? He made some noise at the scene.
According to law enforcement sources cited by TMZ, the occupational therapist claimed after calling 911 that Hogan had been a victim of medical malpractice — specifically alleging that a surgeon "severed" Hogan's phrenic nerve during a recent surgery. The Cleveland Clinic confirms this nerve is primarily responsible for breathing, and damage to it can cause serious respiratory issues. Here's where it gets interesting: TMZ's sources also noted that Hogan abruptly stopped breathing without the typical "chest-clenching episode" associated with cardiac arrest.
But in a later police interview, the therapist walked it back, acknowledging he's "not a neurosurgeon" and had only been employed by Hogan for two weeks before his death. Daughter Brooke Hogan wasn't having any of it. In August 2025, she went on Bubba the Love Sponge's show and questioned her father's leukemia diagnosis entirely: "We don't have cancer that runs in our family.
It seems weird." She later emphasized her "uncertainty" via Instagram Stories, writing that "anyone" in her position "would want answers." She added at the time, "I don't think anyone thinks there's foul play suspected, but the man had a very complicated medical history." The family wasn't just asking questions — they were building a case. In October 2025, Brooke and the Hogan camp filed a petition to extend the statute of limitations specifically to complete an investigation into those medical malpractice claims.
Clearwater Police praised the family's cooperation in their Friday statement, thanking widow Sky Daily, kids Nick and Brooke Hogan, and attorney Kevin Hayslett "for their willingness to allow our investigators access to very personal information, at a time when they were grieving and struggling." The department noted they "would not have had the legal justification to obtain much of the information without their cooperation." The July 2025 autopsy confirmed Hulk died of acute myocardial infarction with a history of atrial fibrillation and leukemia CLL. Case closed — officially, at least.
